Good Neighbors Make Bad Accessories to a Police Sting

Trying to catch a car thief, undercover deputies from the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department parked a car as bait on a Paramount street with the keys in the ignition.

Whereupon a neighbor removed them and left a note on the car for the owner, reports the Paramount publication City Talk.

So deputies moved the car and tried again. This time, a good Samaritan took out the keys and placed them on the ground nearby, with the intention of notifying the returning driver.

The deputies moved the car again. At last, they saw a man take the keys and walk away--to his nearby front porch, where he sat down to wait for the owner to return.

A no-strike day for the undercover officers.

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SNEAKY SENIORS ALERT: The idea of seniors being asked to show their I.D.s before receiving discounts brought a note from Casey Rocke.

“People over 45 are constantly trying to cheat the system,” declared Rocke, a theater ticket clerk. “Our senior discount age is 62, and half the people I card aren’t 62 or older.”

Rocke acknowledged that sometimes ticket-buyers have merely assumed that 55 was the cutoff. (Which raises the question: Why does the cheapskate management offer such a limited discount?)

But, Rocke said, some seniors run scams such as this: “A couple will come to buy tickets and one (who is actually a senior) will buy the tickets while the other (not yet a senior) will purposely hide out of view of the box office to avoid being carded.”

Just when my faith in humanity had been restored by the citizens of Paramount.

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A JUNIOR SENIOR: I admit that since I turned 50 four years ago, I am sometimes automatically offered the senior price at theaters. I gratefully accept it.

But when I attend a theater that gives discounts only to those 62 or older, I quickly blurt out that I want one “adult” ticket. I don’t want to know if I look like I qualify for that discount.

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FAMILIAR INITIALS: Barbara Ellis of Pasadena sent along a newsletter from the Lewisham Assn. of People with Disabilities in England, which seeks to distinguish itself from another LAPD (see accompanying).

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UNCLEAR ON THE CONCEPT: A “Dinner Special” coupon that turned out to be not so special caught the eye of Al Tripodi of Dana Point (see accompanying).

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REALITY, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA-STYLE: So there was ex-Simpson attorney Bob Shapiro on television the other night, representing a former pro athlete accused of abusing his wife.

But this time it was just make believe. He was playing himself in the HBO series “Arli$$,” about a brash sports agent.

Then again, a lot of people thought there was something unreal about the Simpson defense, too.

miscelLAny:

On the subject of UCLA- and USC-themed license plates, Stephanie Wilson reports she saw a plate that said, IR4USC.

“I guess grammar was never a big subject over there,” said Wilson, who, you might have guessed, graduated from UCLA.

Here’s my theory. I think the plate-holder also attended UCLA and is poking fun at the school’s cross-town rival.

Of course, I may be prejudiced, since I are a USC grad.

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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053 and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.

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